Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III met with Rustam Omerov, Ukrainian Defense Minister, this morning to discuss battlefield dynamics and U.S. security assistance to Ukraine, said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's press secretary. Defense Secretary Lloyd J.
This security assistance provides essential capabilities to support Ukraine's most pressing battlefield needs, including air defense, missile and artillery system munitions, and anti-tank weapons, Ryder said.
This announcement is the 71st batch of equipment to be provided from the Department of Defense stockpile to Ukraine since August 2021. The value of this Presidential Withdrawal Authority package is estimated at $725 million, according to a Department of Defense press release today.
In other news, the ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah remains holding, with the Lebanese Armed Forces planning to provide security in southern Lebanon.
Army Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers III, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Central, is working with the State Department to help coordinate with the Israel Defense Forces, France and others to ensure the Lebanese Army has the training, capacity and strategy needed to provide security. There, Ryder said.
Jeffers will serve as co-chair, alongside Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, for the Cessation of Hostilities Implementation and Monitoring Mechanism, according to a Nov. 29 U.S. Central Command press release.
Monitoring and implementation activities will be led by the United States and consist of the Lebanese Armed Forces, the Israel Defense Forces, the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon, and France, according to the press release.
Separately, Ryder said the Department of Defense is closely monitoring events around the Aleppo region in northwest Syria, where the terrorist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham is fighting the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
He said that the United States is not involved in the fighting, adding that the United States, with its allies and partners, urges a halt to the escalation.
Ryder said the Department of Defense remains fully prepared to defend and protect U.S. personnel and assets deployed in the region, including U.S. forces in eastern Syria, who are there to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS so that it cannot re-emerge.
